Friday, January 9, 2015

Movie Adaptation Review: STAND BY ME ドラえもん (Stand By Me Doraemon)

Who doesn't know Doraemon? Doraemon is a part of my childhood, because I remember every Sunday morning, I woke up early with my brother and watched all our favorite cartoons. As a child, I don't really read Doraemon comic books (I haven't developed my love for reading at the time) and only watched the TV shows. And even when I stopped watching it, I always remember Doraemon as this cute cat robot who has all sorts of amazing-helpful stuffs inside its' magical pocket. And also the fact that Doraemon loves Dorayaki. Watching this movie just brings back all the good memories, and the characters come in a much more beautiful, 3D form. It's a very heartwarming movie to watch, and I have to admit I shed tears watching it. So here's my non-spoiling review for the movie adaptation of Stand By Me Doraemon.

The movie begins by showcasing Nobita's life; him being late to school, bullied by schoolmates, bad at sports, lazy, and gets 0 on his test. There are people commenting on Nobita's pathetic life in the background; they turns out to be Doraemon and Sewashi (Nobita's great-great grandson) from the future with all their amazing technology. Sewashi wanted to change his great-great grandfather's life, because according to what he knows, Nobita's life in the future is a wreck. And Sewashi gave Doraemon a mission, which is to make Nobita happy before Doraemon must return to the future.

Even though this is an animation movie that's probably more suitable for children to watch, I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, and was anxious for the ending. I don't know if this story has been told in the manga/anime, so I can't really give a comparison between the two. Although the conflict is pretty simple, I was emotionally engaged to the story. I don't know if anyone else cried while watching this; but I cried on several parts of the movie. I cried both sad and happy tears. But of course, I won't spoil the ending for those of you who haven't seen this movie yet (the ending was my favorite part of the movie, btw) ;))

Talking about the characters, I have to say how desperately annoyed I was with Nobita (voiced by Megumi Oohara), because he is indeed very pathetic—especially after Doraemon came along and always saved him in any kind of situation. However, I do think he went through a serious character development in this movie. He started off as this miserable character, but even with his flaws and weaknesses, he managed to change little by little after Doraemon's encouragement. But if I were to choose my favorite character from this movie, it HAS to be Doraemon (voiced by Wasabi Mizuta). Doraemon is just the CUTEST thing ever in this movie. I love the expressions, gestures, the voice, and also its' personality. I like it best when Doraemon smiled or laughed :')) And I actually just realized how 'glossy' Doraemon is; I don't know why but I always imagined Doraemon as a fluffy being. And I also really like how Shizuka (voiced by Yumi Kakazu) turns out to be really cute and pretty in the movie! She's also really sweet, just like how I remembered her years ago from the anime :))) I still cannot believe her choice in the end though; I'm like Doraemon who keeps feeling bad for her XD

I am seriously thankful for all the modern animation technology these days, because this movie literally brings the manga/anime characters to life. The 3D effects on the characters are perfectly done, and I think the animation style stayed true to the original illustration (like how Doraemon's mouth sometimes curled on one side, or the eye expressions, etc). The environment/setting looks very real, and also does other details like the hair of the characters. And of course I won't forget to mention Doraemon's magic tools! My all-time favorites still has to be the "Anywhere Door" (a door that can take you anywhere) and "Hopter" (that allows the user to fly). And in this movie, I also like the blanket that can turn something back in time or even fast forward it. Amazing stuff you get there, Doraemon ;)) And in this review, I won't really discuss my favorite scenes, because I really don't want to spoil anything. There are definitely a lot of
scenes that kept me on the edge of my seat, and got me excited to know what's going to happen next :))

Overall, I've got to say I'm really satisfied with this movie adaptation; not only for the storyline, but also for the picture/animation quality. Even though there are some people who are not satisfied with the movie plot, I still think everything about this movie is great (even though I was a bit annoyed at how whiny Nobita is at the beginning). It's a really cute movie that makes me laugh, cry, and gives warmth to my heart. And I'm just really happy to be able to watch Doraemon again in a different form; it was a very enjoyable movie to watch from beginning to end :')) At the end of the movie, this is literally my expression ↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓ *happy-sad-tears*

[ If you'd like, you can also listen to the movie soundtrack I embedded above :)) ]

Have you watched this movie adaptation? Are you an avid Doraemon fan? What did you think about the movie?

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“Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent.What I wonder is why everybody doesn't carry a book around for those inevitable dead spots in life.”― Stephen King